Environmental and social factors associated with physical activity among argentinean scholar children stratified by gender

LAVIN FUEYO JULIETA; BERRA SILVINA

Río de Janeiro

Congreso; 5th International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health; 2014

Background: The need to prevent obesity has promoted research on physical activity (PA)determinants to identify environmental and social factors that influence active lifestyles.Objective: To analyze the association between PA and environmental and social factors among scholar children of Cordoba city, Argentina, stratified by gender. Methods: Cross-sectional study in public primary schools with 1268 child-parents pairs. Children aged 10 to 12 years old. Parents reported children´s PA level: 60 minutes per day of vigorous or moderate PA (MVPA) versus inactive; environmental PA determinants: recreation places children frequently use; and difficulties for PA in the neighborhood. Children reported sedentary behavior and family economic status. Children´s overweight was determined by anthropometric measures (BMI>95th percentile). Logistic-regression models were conducted to identify predictors of children´s MVPA, stratifying by gender. Results: Girls exhibited significantly fewer chance of doing MVPA associated to their parent?s perceived difficulty for PA in the neighborhood because girls feel uncomfortable or bored, and because places are close to a traffic road. Boys were significantly less likely to doing MVPA due to lack of lighting and low use of neighborhood recreational places. A lower family economic status increased the chance of doing MVPA in boys. Conclusions: Environmental and social factors associated to PA are different in boys and girls. Further research is needed for the deeper understanding of these associations. Prospective studies are required to identify possible causal relationships.